Time for a good brew, some relaxation, perhaps a little gaming and our Sunday roundup of interesting happening within the Linux and gaming sphere.
Good news for fans of streamlined 4x strategy games, as Dominus Galaxia just managed to scrape by the goal on Kickstarter. Covered here earlier in the month, with a goal of CA$20K it just hit a little over 21K. You can also still find the demo on itch.io and Steam. It's also now on our dedicated Crowdfunding Page sitting alongside over 250 others!
Another bit of crowdfunding news is that the friendly mini-online RPG, Book of Travels, covered recently on GOL has already totally smashed their initial goal by a huge amount. Their Kickstarter campaign runs until November 25 and it's looking like the funds will keep rolling in. Their games are always unique, so I'm keen to see what they do with such an RPG.
Things are looking up for Dota Underlords, with "The Big Update" launching recently the player numbers seem to have shot back up. Starting off at a peak of around 200K from the hype of a new Valve game, it dropped pretty damn hard down to around 23K. Since the new update, it's hitting back above 40K so there's plenty of life in it.
Godot Engine continues massive improvements towards the next huge version with Vulkan, with the lead developer Juan Linietsky recently putting out a post on Twitter to show off their new work-in-progress "Realtime GI with reflections, responding to several dynamic objects with dynamic materials".
Ikey Doherty, the original founder of Solus Linux has left Intel and is now working on developing games under Lispy Snake, Ltd. Their first game 2D named The Last Peacekeeper, is supposed to be something like Battlestar Galactica meets Homeworld.
GNOME are currently fighting off a patent troll (Rothschild Patent Imaging, LLC) attacking the Shotwell image management application with the GNOME Foundation Executive Director, Neil McGovern, getting ready to fight back. They've setup a fund to help the fight, with a goal of $125K they're getting close to hitting.
There's been a few updates for open source graphics drivers lately. The Mesa team released both 19.1.8 and 19.2.2 with various bug fixes and improvements. Mesa 19.3 is due towards the end of the year.
I was also a guest speaker once again on the excellent Linux For Everyone podcast for Episode 14!
Sales Reminders:
- Wanderlust Travel Stories has a 33% discount for our readers
- tinyBuild publisher sale
- Left 4 Dead 2 - 80% off
- Dying Light - 66% off
- 7 Days to Die - 66% off
- Female Protagonist Sale
- itch.io Halloween sale
Played something fun recently and want to tell everyone about it? The comments are open! Let your fellow readers know about something you think is worth clicking on.
If you wish to support GamingOnLinux you can do so across places like Patreon, Paypal, Liberapay, Flattr and Twitch. In addition to our affiliate links with GOG and Humble Store.
I shall return again Monday for the usual weekly news, unless something truly urgent or interesting appears later today.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Luke_Nukem Oct 28, 2019
Red Hat, Ubuntu, SuSE etc, they all use Linux, and in the case of the first two they actually depend on Gnome for the desktop. Why are these big three not chipping in to fight?
Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: rustybroomhandleTransferring photos between devices . . . they've got a patent on copying files that only applies to certain kinds of files?!Quoting: SalvatosDid the Gnome people actually post the relevant patent and claim anywhere? Not that I don’t trust them per se, but out of principle I would like to see the documents before I consider donating to their lawsuit.
I did see the patent and the claim somewhere. The patent has to do with transferring photos between devices and filtering by tags.
Patents be crazy.
This is the very nature of software patents, there does not exists a single solid software patent and the whole shit should be abolished (software is already covered by copyright and does not require this extra layer).
rustybroomhandle Oct 28, 2019
thoughtfulhippo Oct 28, 2019
Quoting: Luke_NukemSomething that pisses me off about the patent case is this: it's left to the underfunded Gnome org, and kind donations, to fight this off.Debian just did https://bits.debian.org/2019/10/debian-donates-support-gnome-patent-defense.html
Red Hat, Ubuntu, SuSE etc, they all use Linux, and in the case of the first two they actually depend on Gnome for the desktop. Why are these big three not chipping in to fight?
Quoting: rustybroomhandleSeriously, they go, "hmmm... Ordering stuff online. What if... Fresh vegetables! File patent, sue."
Quoting: EikeHalf OT: I remember there's been patent claims for the usual progress bar. Does anybody know how this ended?
Apple owns that one and it's valid until 2032-01-21, though there might be more than one "progress bar patent" since the Apple one is especially for content loading:
QuoteMethods and apparatuses that automatically detect a stall of progress to download additional portion of a web page addressed by a resource address registered by a user of a browser are described. In response to the detection, whether a majority of usable content of the web page has been retrieved may be determined. An indication may be provided to the user to indicate readiness of the web page in the browser if the majority of usable content has already been loaded in a viewing area of the browser and is available to the user. Thus, the user's attention can be directed to the content viewing area to proceed interacting with the browser without a need for the user to wait for a remaining portion of the web page.
This shit just gets sillier and sillier the longer down the rabbit hole you go. For example take this patent:
QuoteInteraction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearanceTalk about holy wtf?!
edit: I think that the one you where thinking about is this one from IBM:
QuoteA dynamic progress marker icon is disclosed that dynamically changes to mark the progress of a task. In this manner, the user is kept informed of the status of a task being performed without resorting to language sensitive messages such as "Now processing object number 12 of 100" . The icon does not require a graphics display to be used and therefore can be used on both graphics and non-graphics displays. The icon of the prepared embodiment has five rows consisting of four percent (%) symbols surrounded by a border. At the beginning of a task, a task monitor quantifies the task into substantially equivalent task work units. All twenty "%" symbols are present and displayed to the user. When the task monitor determines that one task work unit has completed, one "%" symbol is replaced in the icon by a replacement character, such as a blank or null character. The replacement of one "%" symbol each time a task work unit completes continues until all of the "%" symbols are replaced, indicating 100% completion of the task. The order in which symbols inside the icon are replaced is determined by a pattern array and can be modified if desired. The symbols used inside the icon and for the border are selected to be available in virtually all languages, and can also be modified to meet the needs of a particular user.
It was brought up as an example by Richard Stallman in an article in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2005/jun/20/comment.comment I don't think it has even been used to sue somebody, IBM likes to patent millions of things so that whenever a competitor tries to sue them for something they can always pick up a few thousand patents that the competitor are in violation of.
Last edited by F.Ultra on 28 October 2019 at 6:07 pm UTC
Quoting: ShmerlI've done this on purpose, because I doubt I could do it justice. But oh well, I can at least try ...Quoting: kaimanBeen playing Disco Elysium [...]Can you describe the game? Looking at the trailers, it's hard really to figure out what it is.
At its core it's basically an RPG in the tradition of Planescape: Torment, set in an alternate reality with a hardboiled detective story. It's not like a traditional cRPG, however, but more like a tabletop session with a good GM. It involves a lot of reading, dice rolls, but there aren't hordes of enemies. So it's mostly exploring, talking to NPCs (and your inner senses) and overcoming skill checks by leveling the appropriate attributes, wearing proper items, thinking the right thoughts or doing drugs for a temporary bonus.
So far, so boring. What makes this the experience it is is the quirkiness of the setting, the memorable main character, and, above all, the truly excellent and exceptional writing. It's gross and sad and hilarious. It is unlike anything I've seen in a video game, especially since everything became fully voiced and requires dialogue to be concise and to the point (Disco Elysium has no VO save for some key lines). There's more than the writing, though. The case is interesting, the past of our detective is mysterious, and the world is filled with enigmas waiting to be solved as well.
Despite the difference in gameplay mechanics, I think it is not unlike Heaven's Vault. There's a world to explore, and secrets to uncover, and it's up to the player to dive in deep or keep close to the surface. But where Heaven's Vault has a rather cheerful and lighthearted mood, Disco Elysium is full of drama and bitterness. You'll be hurting when your character gets humiliated, but if you manage to get on top of things victory will be all that much sweeter.
Not sure if that is helpful at all, though. I guess if you want to know more, check out the dev blog which has plenty of details on the different aspects of the game. Start on page 13 or so and work your way towards current articles. There's interviews, descriptions of the skills and more ...
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